Danish company found guilty of $3.6 million fraud
The Court of Kolding has found a Danish bunker company guilty of committing $3.6 million fraud against its customer, Malaysian Pacific Inter-Link. Two senior executives were held for the trail; one was given a prison sentence of 3 years and 6 months while the other was acquitted.
The company is sentenced to pay USD 1.5 million to the concerned company in penalties. The convicted official has been stripped of his rights to head the company in Denmark or abroad and he is also restricted to work professionally in oil trade for the next five years.
The names of the Danish company and the executives involved have been protected by the court. The Danish media reported that the verdict was presented without a court session and Court of Kolding issued the verdict through e-mail to the concerned parties. The court statement reads “In the appointment of this sentence, the Court has emphasized the importance of the case concerning fraud worth a total of 24,348,689 Danish kroner (USD 3.6 million, -ed.), which was committed over a period of almost three years and has been systematic and professional with the involvement of accomplices abroad”.
The prosecutor for the Danish financial police, Knud Damgaard Kisbye, has expressed that “The executives and the company had a comprehensive and cunning setup to perpetrate fraud against the customer for millions. This is particularly severe because it was so systematic. For that reason, I’m pleased with the verdict, which also sends a clear signal to the business world that foul play is not acceptable”.
The company’s lawyer, Jacob Skude Rasmussen of firm Gorrissen Federspiel, has said “We are very surprised and completely uncomprehending of the verdict. We think that we disproved the charges point by point and we can’t see that there is any evidence which could lead to this ruling. So, naturally, we decided to appeal the city court’s verdict on the spot”.
The financial police charged the company after it billed the Malaysian company Pacific Inter-Link for more fuel than the intended cost. The company Pacific Inter-Link filed the charges against the Danish company with financial police in March 2014 as the company noticed that the vessels provided very poor fuel economy after the fuel was delivered by the Danish company. The company later withdrew the case after a settlement was reached between the Malaysian and the Danish company but the Danish financial police moved ahead with the case after it seized large collection of documents obtained through a dawn raid which provided enough proof of evidence against the Danish company. The investigation was carried forward without an actual victim.
The names of the company and the concerned officials have been withheld until a final verdict can be reached. The concerned Danish company and the executive have been given 14 days to decide whether or not to appeal against the verdict.
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Source: ShippingWatch
